austraLasia #2099
Palms
and Crosses - an Easter reflection
(The following is a 'letter from Jerusalem', from the Rector there, Fr
Francis Preston: published with his permission. It was written on Palm
Sunday, not 19th March!)
JERUSALEM: 19th March 2008 -- "After lunch today I
travelled by coach with most of our Ratisbonne Community to the crest
of the Mount of Olives and from there walked to Bethphage, a village
some three miles due east of the Old City of Jerusalem, for the start
of the annual Palm Sunday procession. In bright sunshine under a
cloudless blue sky several thousand people – Religious, priests and
seminarians, the local Catholic lay faithful and many pilgrims - joined
the Latin Patriarch, His Beatitude Michel Sabbah, in retracing the
steps of Jesus' triumphant journey into the holy city of Jerusalem.
There was a real atmosphere of joy and celebration, an almost tangible
sense of belonging to a faith community that finds its hope and meaning
in Jesus.
It was all so very different from what I had
experienced less than
24 hours before. On Saturday evening I had been in Bethlehem to
celebrate Mass for the De La Salle Brothers' Community there. The small
group of Brothers, most of whom are from the USA, run Bethlehem
University.
During supper after the Mass with the Brothers, they described the
difficulties – strikes by the academic staff and students - the
University had been experiencing after Wednesday’s assassination of
four Palestinian activists in Bethlehem by the Israeli security forces.
The prevailing mood in the University and in the town of Bethlehem, the
Brothers told me, was one of sadness and a certain hopelessness.
But back to this afternoon. I walked in the
procession with members
of the local Philippino Catholic community in Jerusalem for whom we
celebrate Mass every Sunday and provide whatever spiritual support we
can. We sang almost every step of the way. As we entered the Old City
of Jerusalem at Lion's Gate, almost at our destination, I noticed a
film crew with their camera trained on us. At first I couldn't make out
what was happening and then I became aware that someone had joined our
group, an actor dressed as Jesus, who was walking silently with us, our
companion on the last stage of our journey. I couldn't help reflecting
that Jesus is always with us though we may not recognise him, and that
his presence is both re-assuring and challenging.
Each of us has a cross to bear - and we don’t have
far to search
for it. That truth was brought home to me at the end of the afternoon
when I was walking back through the Old City to Ratisbonne with a small
group of Filipina mothers and children who live in the same part of the
city as we Salesians do. At one point our route home took us along the
Via Dolorosa, the traditional route of Jesus' final journey to Calvary.
The Via Dolorosa climbs quite steeply, and at one point there are many
steps to climb. One of the mothers was pushing a pram with her three
year old daughter strapped in it because Annie, the little girl's name,
was too tired to walk any further. There was nothing for it but for
Annie's mother and I and another lady to manhandle the pram up the
steps. When we reached the top, my back was aching, and I looked at the
mother. I could see she was far more tired than me. And I thought to
myself, yes, the daily struggle she faces in to earn a living and bring
up Annie, in a foreign land, is the cross Jesus has asked her to bear.
May she always know that he walks with her".
_________________
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Title: australasia 2099
Subject and key words: SDB General
Date (year): 2008
ID: 2000-2099|2099
